. The major goal of this project is to develop a new reliable, high resolution, efficient, and cost effective technique for the general detection of genetic defects in the human genome, and in selected pieces of DNA. The approach is to utilize the extraordinary capabilities of plasmon resonant particles which can provide non-toxic, very bright, robust, color-labeled probes that can be bound to any desired specific-locus DNA fragment, and then hybridized to the DNA strand of interest. The investigators expect to achieve a spatial resolution between marker probes of less than 0.5 KB. The investigators shall develop the specific reagents, protocols, and associated technology which will be user- friendly, and affordable for wide scale clinical applications.